Eastern Advances to Semifinals in BSC Championship With 81-75 Win

Trio of Eagles combine for 64 points in third meeting in 10
days, as Eastern now plays Tuesday in Missoula

Junior guard Jeffrey Forbes was up to the task.
So was senior point guard Cliff Colimon. And ditto
for senior forward Laron Griffin.

Idaho State stole a page from EWU’s book, but Eastern
Washington University’s trio of players all scored at least
21 points to lead the Eagles to an 81-75 victory over the Bengals
in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Men’s
Basketball Championship Saturday (March 3) at Reese Court in
Cheney, Wash.

“It is a great win and it is a great day to be an
Eagle,” said first-year head coach Jim
Hayford. “I’m very proud of our
team.”

Forbes had a season-high 21 points, and had a steal and assist
on a key basket with 37 seconds to play as the Eagles advanced to
the semifinals on Tuesday (March 6) against either Montana (15-1,
23-6) or Weber State (14-2, 23-5) in Missoula, Mont. Eastern
improved to 15-16 on the season with its third victory in as many
tries against ISU, while the Bengals ended their season 9-21.

Griffin had a career-high 21 points and had 11 rebounds for his
sixth career double-double. Colimon, who two days earlier was
selected as first team All-Big Sky Conference selection, finished
with 22 points, seven assists, two steals and four rebounds.

The Eagles had their second-best shooting night of the season at
52.8 percent, led by Griffin (8-of-12), Forbes (8-of-12) and
Colimon (8-of-13). Eastern is now 9-0 this season when it makes at
least 45 percent of its shots from the floor.

The fourth-seeded Eagles survived a 3-point onslaught by the
fifth-seeded Bengals, who made 14 out of a tournament record 33
3-point attempts. Kenny McGowan hit five 3-pointers on a record 19
attempts, and finished with 28 points. Melvin Morgan had six treys
and finished with 22.

“We played one of our finest offensive games of the
year,” said Hayford. “We shot really good percentages
and we had a good mix of going inside and outside. Jeff Forbes
stepped up and had a great night -- he is a winning player.
Offensively he scored 21 points, but he also was the guy guarding
McGowen, who got off 28 shots. People might look at that and say
McGowen had 28 points, but I look at that and say Forbes held him
to 30 percent field goal shooting (9-of-28 for 32
percent).’’

And for only the fourth time this season, Eastern had more
turnovers than its opponent. Idaho State had 12 compared to 14 for
the Eagles, with the Bengals turning those miscues into 22 points.
Eastern entered the game ranked fifth in NCAA Division in
3-pointers per game (9.1) and 10th in turnover margin (+4.2 per
game).

“They were making some really deep, tough looks,”
said Hayford. “And when you are able to still win when stuff
like that is happening, then good for us. I think that both teams
left it all out on the floor -- that’s to be expected. My hat
is off to Idaho State. They played really well, and it is tough to
beat a team three times in a season.”

The Eagles were hosting their first postseason playoff game in
six years, the first since March 4, 2006 when the Eagles knocked
off Portland State in Cheney -- by the same 81-75 score as the ISU
game. Rodney Stuckey scored 38 points in that game – the
second-most in the career of the current Detroit Piston and the
sixth-best performance in school history.

Eastern had an seven-point lead early in the second half, but
Idaho State came back and led by six with 9:02 to play. Eastern
followed with a 10-0 run – on a pair baskets by Griffin and
3-pointers by Forbes and Colimon – to regain a 65-61
lead.

But the Bengals tied it before EWU took the lead for good on a
basket by Griffin at the 4:33 mark. However, ISU had a chance to
tie or take the lead when Forbes snatched the ball from Morgan and
fed teammate Kevin Winford for a layin and a
four-point advantage. A pair of free throws by Parker
Kelly, one by Colimon and a dunk by Griffin on an assist
from Winford closed out the win for EWU.

“I think our team knows how to play the same when
we’re up six and when we’re down six,” added
Hayford. “Getting some important stops was key -- it helped
us get some separation. The moment of the game was Jeff Forbes
getting that steal and feeding Winford for the easy
layup.”

The Eagles have won the last six games in the series, and
Eastern has also won the last 10 meetings in Cheney, dating back to
a 65-63 Bengal win at EWU on March 1, 2003.

A 77-64 victory over the Bengals on Feb. 28 clinched the No. 4
seed in the Big Sky Conference Championship for the Eagles, who
finished the regular season 8-8 in the Big Sky and 14-16 overall.
The win completed a season sweep in the league for the Eagles
versus ISU, having defeated the Bengals in Pocatello 85-78 on Feb.
23.

Eastern will play in the semifinals on March 6 against either
Montana (15-1, 23-6) or Weber State (14-2, 23-5) in Missoula, Mont.
The Grizzlies wrapped-up the regular season league title on Feb. 28
with a 66-51 over the Wildcats in Missoula, Mont. Portland State
(10-6, 16-13) finished third and will host the Bobcats in
Saturday’s other quarterfinal game. The championship game in
the tournament is March 7 at 6 p.m. Pacific time and will be
televised on ESPN2.

The Eagles are making their 12th appearance in the Big Sky
Conference Tournament, and second-straight after a string of
four-straight misses.

Now 2-4 in six quarterfinal games, Eastern has advanced to the
Big Sky semifinals on seven occasions (record of 5-2) and the
championship game five times. Eastern’s only league title
came in 2004 when they beat Northern Arizona 71-59, as EWU made its
first and only NCAA Tournament appearance.

The radio broadcast of Tuesday’s game, featuring
play-by-play announcer Dennis Patchin, may be heard on 700-AM ESPN,
via the web at 700espn.com and
via iPhone application (search for “700 ESPN” and
download the free app). The game is also televised live by Altitude
Sports and Entertainment.

Colimon and Griffin had had big nights before versus the
Bengals.

Versus ISU on Senior Night in Cheney, Colimon had a career-high
28 points to eclipse his previous high by one. He also added four
assists versus the Bengals – all in the second half when he
scored 20 of his points. Colimon had a four-point play with 53
seconds left in the first half to give EWU a five-point lead, then
EWU out-scored ISU 44-35 after intermission, including a 30-15 run
in the first 10:38 of the second half.

Griffin finished with 18 points in that game, just one behind
his career high set on Nov. 18, 2010, versus Northwest University,
but it was a career high versus a NCAA Division I opponent. Griffin
also had 12 rebounds for his fifth career double-double, and added
four steals and two blocked shots.

In the meeting versus ISU in Pocatello, a trio of EWU players
combined to make 9-of-10 free throws in the final 41 seconds,
helping Eastern clinch a postseason playoff berth. Kelly, a true
freshman, came off the bench to equal his career high with 17
points and lead a barrage of 3-pointers by the Eagles. Eastern made
9-of-21 in the first half and sank 10-of-26 in the game, as Kelly
made five of his first six and finished 5-of-7. Colimon added three
baskets beyond the 3-point arc and finished with a game-high 21
points, with Griffin chipping in 15 points.

Ticket Information for Big Sky
Semifinals/Championship

Eastern Washington University has a limited number of
all-session tickets available in the EWU cheering section for the
semifinals and championship game of the Big Sky Conference
Championships in Missoula. Those tickets are available on a
first-come, first-serve basis, and cost $45 each. Orders will be
taken immediately after today’s game at Reese Court, and then
any remaining tickets will be sold Monday 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at
the EWU Ticket Office at Reese Court, or via phone at 509-359-6059.
Tickets will also be available through The University of Montana
ticket office, however, they will not be in the EWU cheering
section and a sell-out is extremely possible.

Montana is hosting the Big Sky Conference Basketball
Championship for the first time since 2000. Semifinals will take
place Tuesday, March 6, with Weber State facing with lowest
remaining seed at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time and the Griz facing the
highest remaining seed at 7 p.m. The championship game will be at 6
p.m. Pacific time on Wednesday March 7.

Comments From Eastern Washington Head Coach Jim
Hayford

“Down six in the second half is nothing for us. Our guys
don’t look at the scoreboard until there’s about three
minutes to go. They’ve come back from big deficits before,
and they knew that whether we were up six or down six we needed to
play great defense. And we did that. We were wearing them down with
foul trouble which gave us some pretty high percentage looks down
the stretch.”

“Laron has been playing like a senior should. Every night
he is super consistent and he has found a nice offensive touch to
his game. He is producing at a high level and I am really happy for
him. When you get to the end of your career you want to be able to
say I left it all out on the floor, and I think Laron can certainly
say that. We’ll celebrate tonight. And then we’ll wake
up tomorrow and try to do something real special in
Missoula.”

“We have been doing the same preparations for free throws
now as at the beginning of April. You don’t become a better
free throw shooting team at the last minute. Where Laron deserves a
ton of credit is his improvement at the free throw line.”

“Jeff had a huge night -- he received the game ball for
really stepping up. He is a winning player -- he had a great high
school career and was part of a great high school program. He is
our most steady player and he knows how to play winning basketball.
I’m extremely proud of him tonight.”

“This win means that we’re raising the bar for our
program. We’re saying Eastern Basketball is a player in our
conference. We wanted to be counted in when people are talking
about the good programs. “

“We gave Forbes the game ball. This is a big one for us
and I think this will really mean something to him. I think
he’s got great character and has really pushed through some
early bad shooting this season. I want to thank everyone who came
out tonight. I know tickets cost a little more during the post
season as they do normally. We may have not had as many fans out
but it sure was loud. It was a neat home court environment for our
team to play in.

“Laron is solid. He is an extremely coachable player
and he is definitely our most improved player. He’s improved
his field goal percentage by at least 25 percent over last season.
He is a great teammate and it is a real joy to be Laron’s
coach.”

Quotes From Idaho State’s Head Coach Deane
Martin

On the Loss: “There are three guys in
that locker room having a tough time. They deserved the win. I told
them that once it (the loss) sinks in, they are three guys that
should be proud for what they’ve done for the Idaho State
program.”

On Coming Out of Half: “We were down by
five coming out of half, and we knew they were going to get Colimon
some looks. We did okay, but Colimon is a good player and
he’s tough to stop. We talked about how we had 20 minutes to
play and how we are in a big playoff game. We just came out and
took it possession-by-possession.”

On Gameplan: “We wanted the ball in
Kenny’s (McGowen) and Chase’s (Grabau) hands as much as
possible to get a two-man game going. It was working for us. Kenny
was making plays and we had Chase we could play off of too. It was
a lot of fun to watch those two go at it. They’re the two
best guys to have the ball in their hands; I made the decision to
roll with them a couple days ago. We’re going to live and die
by that. Once Chase got in foul trouble, we sent in Sherrod
(Baldwin) and he gave us good minutes and hit a couple
shots.”

On Melvin Morgan’s late-game turnovers:
“He’s had a few of those this year, but bless his
heart, he gives everything he’s got. I know he probably feels
bad, but hey, like we’ve said before, you’re going to
get to that point where you might not play the perfect game. He
just has to pick himself up and go from there.”

On Eastern: “Eastern was really good
tonight. You got to give them credit. When we subbed, they subbed.
We’d get matchups, then they would go big. When we went big,
they went small. Every time we subbed, they had something to match
it with. We had them on the run with Kenny and Chase. Then at the
seven-minute mark, they started going to (Laron) Griffin and we
couldn’t get him contained. We can’t get our help
defense over there and can’t double off on Griffin because of
their shooting on the perimeter. There just wasn’t a lot we
could do with Griffin. He’s a good post player. He backs them
down and scores. They hit us with that in the last three or four
minutes; there wasn’t anything we could do.”

On ISU’s Season: “It’s been
great for me. The best part of it is to see the players turn things
around. That’s absolutely the first and most important thing
in my mind. When I first accepted this interim job, I told (ISU
athletic director) Jeff (Tingey) that I’m going to do
everything that I can do to turn this program around and try and be
successful. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we made
progress. Then we made a little more progress and the next thing
you know we’re being expected to do well. We put ourselves in
that position. Everyone forgot about the team that was picked to
finish last (in the Big Sky).”

“We saw players have success. That was the best thing for
me. I just wanted to concentrate on the team. I committed myself to
that and I got the players going and think we all did a pretty good
job.”

“We are all happy to be Bengals. I don’t know if
they felt like that before, but now I know they’re happy for
what’s going on. The underclassmen will be back next year and
they’re going to push to get better. Hopefully this same
thing can happen next year.”